Outsider Chronicles: Full Metal Worm
by Dis Lexic
Summary: You know, there were a lot of things I was expecting when I got reborn into a world of traumatized Superheroes. Becoming one of those heroes was actually pretty high up my list, but when your a Tinker whos main trick only needs a bit of chalk, thats Bullshit on a whole other level!
1. Chapter 1

Outsider Chronicles: Full Metal Worm

You know, there were a lot of things I was expecting when I got reborn into a world of traumatized Superheroes. Becoming one of those heroes was actually pretty high up my list, but when your a Tinker whos main trick only needs a bit of chalk, thats Bullshit on a whole other level!

 **Well, this should be fun if nothing else. Its something thats been rattling around in my head for a while and I couldn't resist. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Soooo, my death was lame. I mean, getting killed by a box full of paint cans falling on your head isn't exactly something to brag about. I knew I hated art for a reason. Still, at least I got a new life out of it. Oh yeah, I ended up getting reincarnated. I'm still not entirely sure why, but after I died, I woke up again as a baby.

Growing up was simultaneously easy and incredibly frustrating. What? I'd like to see any of you sit through pre-school again without tearing your hair out. Still, I've learnt from my mistakes, so I got through school with no problems and high grades. Or at least, that was the plan. See, the world I had been reborn into wasn't exactly normal, not when there were people flying around in silly costumes. Yeah, I'd been reborn into a world full of crazy people with superpowers. Unfortunately, it wasn't a world like Marvel or DC where the Heroes always win. On no, I wasn't that lucky. The world I'd been reborn into was that of Worm.

* * *

Hmm, I think that someone might be playing with me. Why? Well, my family were extremely recognizable, but none of them had anything to do with Worm. I was the oldest child, with a younger sister named Victoria and my Parents were named Victor and Alexandria while our family name was Powered. Yeahhh, thats not normal in the slightest. Fortunately, it seems that Alchemy is not a thing in this world cus it was still modern day and Mum wasn't a brain in a jar. Instead she worked as the chief of research and development of PRT ENE while my Dad served as the head of the Troopers. My sister on the other hand was a perfectly normal, if sharp tongued, little girl. Who happened to be best friends with Missy Biron. Thats not really relevant though.

None of my family had any powers (other than my Dad being a mountain of muscle and my Mum being scary smart) and we lived in the nice part of town, well away from all the Gangs. On the surface, I should have very little to worry about. Just go to school, get a good education and fuck of as far away as possible as soon as I got the chance. The problem is that I couldn't help being incredibly worried. Brockton Bay is dangerous at the best of times, but knowing what I did about what was on the way made it even worse. I didn't want any of my family to end up on the wrong end of Leviathan, the Slaughterhouse Nine or anyone else that would hit the city in the future. That said, I had no idea what I could possible to to prevent it without powers and theres no fucking way I'd be approaching the Cauldron any time soon.

Despite my best efforts, my mind spent most of the time stewing over the thoughts in the back of my head for the vast majority of the time, mostly out of sight, but always there and driving me absolutely nuts. I was well aware of the fact that that much stress was rather bad for me and I think my family could tell I was bothered by something considering that my sister spent a lot of time trying to take my mind of it. It rarely worked unfortunately, but I appreciated the effort nonetheless.

* * *

Unfortunately, my reasonably quiet life came to an end in a rather spectacular fashion. The first indication that something was wrong was when the phone rang and, after answering it, Mum dropped her coffee. I could tell by the look on her face that something had happened, something bad. That was proven when Mum rushed out of the house, pausing only to tell me to look after my sister, who had just entered the room looking extremely sleepy. Four hours later saw Mum returning, looking haggard and pale, to find us on the couch, Vicky fast asleep in my arms and me wide awake and worried as hell.

"What happened?" I asked before Mum could say anything.

Mum sighed and dropped into the armchair.

"I suppose there's no point in keeping it from you," she said, "Your Father was involved in a fight between the E88 and the ABB downtown. The PRT tried to break it up, but when the Capes arrived, things got...nasty. Victor...he went down when Hookwolf went after some bystanders to try and distract the Protectorate Heroes. He took a knife to the chest, so close it nearly hit his Heart."

My eyes went wide.

"Don't worry, Panacea managed to stabilize him in time," said Mum before I could ask, "It was touch and go for a while, but he'll pull through."

I let out a sigh of relief and slumped back against the back of the sofa, being careful not to wake up my sister as I did.

"Thats a relief," I muttered.

Mum nodded as she closed her eyes and rested her head back against the back of her chair.

"The Doctors want to keep him in for observation," she said, "I wanted to stay, but they kicked me out. Said I should go home and get some rest since he won't be waking up until tomorrow."

"Good advice," I said with a wide yawn.

Now that the crisis had been resolved, my body decided to remind me that it was two in the morning and I had school tomorrow.

"Indeed," said Mum, "Now go on, get to bed. You've got school tomorrow after all."

"Don't remind me," I muttered as I got to my feet and gently picked up my Sister.

Vicky shifted in her sleep and mumbled, but didn't wake up. I carried her upstairs and put her to bed, before heading to my own. However, I quickly found myself unable to sleep as I stared up at the ceiling, my mind awhirl. My Dad was alive, but I was well aware of how close he had come to death. I'd lost count of the number of times he'd been hospitalized in the line of duty and, while Panacea often helped out, it was also common for her to be too busy or for him to outright refuse healing as his wounds weren't to bad. It was only a matter of time before something happened that Panacea couldn't heal and then…

I shuddered at the thought and rolled over onto my side. Despite my sisters caustic tongue, we were a close and loving family. The idea of any part of it being torn away...it made me want to cry. I couldn't let it happen, but I have no idea what to do to prevent it. If only I had powers, I could possibly do something to help…

 **Darknessspacetwistingmonstrocitiesashardhertlingtowardsme…**

I sat bolt upright, my eyes going wide as it felt like my mind opened and countless ideas, bits of knowledge and calculations started pouring in. Without thinking, I threw off my covers, staggered over to my desk and started drawing.

* * *

RINGGGGGGG!

I jolted awake as someone shook my shoulder, shooting upright, only to let out a yelp of pain as my shoulders cracked. I blinked a few times as I tried to figure out why I could only see white, before I realized I had a bit of paper stuck to my cheek. I quickly pulled it off and realized that I'd fallen asleep at my desk (and had apparently drooled all over my notebook), but not before filling up a huge number of bits of paper with drawings, symbols and calculations that would be complete gibberish to anyone else but made perfect sense to me.

I got to my feet and stretched, wincing at the familiar sensation of stiff muscles stretching, before shutting off my alarm and sitting back down. I had to get ready for school, but the first job was to see what I'd done last night and hide it before my Mum or Dad found it. If they did, they'd probably make me join the Wards and, while I had no problem with them on an individual bases, I didn't want to become a PR tool and never get the chance to actually use my powers in a fight.

I picked up the top bit of paper and was immediately met with an uncomfortably familiar circle and a set of calculations that just so happened to meet the exact elemental makeup of the Human body for the average adult. My eyebrows shot up and I started flipping through the rest of the papers. Human Transmutation, Unstable Energy Production, Oxygen Manipulation, Medical Circles meant to close wounds, a Circle designed to create a Stone, Chimera creation, Homunculus creation, methods of gathering Alchemic energy to create weapons, Memory Partition and Thought Acceleration and so many other notes, theories and calculations. My power had somehow hooked me into every single version of Alchemy I'd ever heard of and more! I knew how to perform a successful Human Transmutation, how to create three different types of Homunculus, about four methods of creating a Philosopher's Stone and a frankly obscene number of methods of achieving immortality, most of which would likely earn me a one way trip to the Birdcage, if not a Kill Order on the spot. Fuck, I could probably create a Grail or a root to the Root! Screw hiding them, I was burning these as soon as I could! I had all the information in my head, but until I figured out a good way of encrypting my notes, there is no fucking way I'm leaving them laying around!

I quickly turned on my shredder and put the sheaf if notes in the tray, before covering it with my duvet to muffle the sound and headed downstairs for breakfast.

* * *

Three days later, I headed out early in the morning to find somewhere to actually do some Alchemy. It was the weekend, which made it the perfect time to do so, and I'd finally managed to figure out a way to stitch a Circle onto some gloves, just in case I needed a weapon. My first stop was the Docks. It might be infested with druggies, but it also had a lot of out of the way areas and bits of rubbish I could use. I did my best to ignore all the dodgy dealings going down in the alleyways as I made my way through the streets with my hood up and my head down. I wasn't about to try anything without some serious firepower and I really didn't fancy getting into a tussle with any Capes before I'd had chance to make some real weapons.

Fortunately, my choice of a ragged looking hoodie, jeans and tired bag made the perfect camouflage in these parts and I was able to find a suitable location for my lab without getting jumped by anyone. My first job upon finding a good place was to use Alchemy to seal the place up tight, fixing all the leaks and making it bloody hard for anyone to get in without blowing the wall down. Or having Alchemy. With that done, I got out my supplies, which was a box of chalk and some random broken bits of crockery and forgotten nicknacks from the back of my wardrobe, and went to work.

My intention was to turn the warehouse into a lab that would allow me to perform all forms of Alchemy I had in my head. The FM style was good and would likely be my go to style since it didn't really have that many downsides, but I wasn't even close to be limited to that. I really, REALLY wanted to try my hand at making some Kakugane, if only because they were EXTREMELY handy to have in the field. Hell, I could make them into a belt or something for my family so they could gain the advantage of the enhanced regeneration provided simply by holding one. Plus, a Buso Renkin would be useful no matter what, even if they could be a tad deadly.

Before I could create one though, I needed a proper lab. To that end, I gathered metal, wood and the large number of broken bottles that littered the floor and set to work. I transmuted a large number of workbenches and plenty of lab equipment, including glasswork, and a few items that no one but an Alchemist would be able to recognize. It took me hours to finish, but by lunchtime I was happy with my setup. With that done, I set to work on the long process of gathering and focusing Alchemical energy into a piece of lead that would give rise to the first of my Kakugane (or Nuclei to use the western term. I prefered Kakugane though). The process would take a while to be completed, but that was fine. I needed some time to put together some of my other bits of equipment.

Most notably was the gloves I had in mind. Composed of Alchemically created Ignition cloth, you can probably guess what they did. Yep, I'd replicated Mustangs gloves. I also created some special Alchemical cloth with which to construct my costume, although that would have to wait. My powers came with a huge number of options, but I wasn't confident I could actually pull of making a costume with them. Instead, I intended to try and approach Parian to see if she'd help, although as it turned out, I didn't need to worry.

I also discovered that my powers might be even more bullshit than I previously thought. Why? Well, after accidentally creating an Alchemy bench, I somehow managed to distill a blood red fluid from a mixture of my sandwich and a few mushrooms I found growing in the corner of the warehouse that I'm pretty sure would be able to heal just about anything short of losing a limb. Oh, and the Alchemy Bench I made? Yeah, it was the one from Skyrim. What the actual fuck.

* * *

The sound of a kettle boiling over drew my attention away from the impossible red liquid that was sitting innocently on my workbench and to the bubbling cauldrons that contained the first of my Kakugane. I headed over, pulling on some thick gloves as I did, before grabbing a pair of tongues and reaching into the cauldron. There was a loud hiss and a billow of steam as I pulled out the lump of lead that had changed from a simple lump of dark gray metal to a hexagonal medallion made of what looked like polished steel with an Amalgam symbol stamped on one side. It didn't have any numbers, but I'd probably have to add them.

I took the Alchemical weapon over to my bench and dunked it in the pot of water on the side to cool it off. After waiting for the resulting cloud of steam to clear, I pulled it out and carefully examined it for any flaws. After finding none, I stripped off my gloves and picked up my creation. Despite being made of metal and having just been dumped in ice water, it was warm and seemed to pulse faintly in time with my heart beats. I could already feel its powers working, causing the cuts and burns I'd picked up over the course of the day setting my stuff up to tingle as my bodies healing was drastically sped up. I took a deep breath. There was one more test to do to make sure everything was perfect. I tightened my grip on the Kakugane, steeled my heart and reached for my fighting spirit.

"Buso Renkin!"

The Kakugane opened and light poured out, wrapping around me as it transformed into...silver material? I blinked as my Buso Renkin finished forming and stared down at my hands, which were now covered in a pair of dark blue gloves with a white Amalgam symbol on the back.

"Em, did that just happen?" I said out loud.

I stepped across the room to the mirror I'd transmuted earlier for when I actually made my costume and stared at my new outfit. It consisted of an overcoat and military cap made of silver fabric with blue linings, buttons and the peak of the hat, dark blue gloves and black trousers and boots. The coat had a very high collar, enough that it completely hid the lower part of my face, while my cap served to hide my hair and eyes from view. I gaped at the image in the mirror, before I snatched up a nearby chunk of metal and stabbed it into my arm. Well, I tried to at least. The metal just bounced off a layer of silver hexagons that appeared on the surface of my coat at the point of impact.

"Silver Skin...my Buso Renkin is Silver Skin," I said weakly as I watched the hexagons fade from view, "Well...this will make things easier."

Mainly because the stupid thing was pretty much invulnerable. Seriously, with this thing on, I could probably qualify for a high level Brute based soul on durability. Its capable of tanking a blast from a house sized napalm bomb without a scratch, was completely resistant to ABC weaponry and could operate as a spacesuit. Fuck, with it on I could probably tank a hit from Alexandria and not be hurt and it regenerated so damn quick if it was broken that it put Glory Girls force field to shame! Plus, it doubled as a rocking costume. Sure it didn't have any defensive abilities (unless you counted turning into an indestructible prison), but I had other skills to serve that role.

"Hmm, this might actually bump up my timeline," I mused as I adjusted my hat.

I had intended to hold off a bit so I could get my costume just right, but now, with Silver Skin, I literally could not do better. Sure, my weapons needed more work and some testing, but I could fight pretty well and I was strong. Not as strong as my Dad and I was definitely no Brute, but I could take on any gangbangers who I encountered. Plus, I'm pretty sure Silver Skin did actually give a boost to strength considering some of the stuff Bravo pulled off. I'd need to test that at some point, but for now I'd just have to make sure I don't break anyone to badly. I grinned as I cracked my knuckles. This was gonna be fun!

 **And with that I'm done. So, what do you think of this utterly broken power? Technically, Alex is a Tinker, but you can bet that no one will believe him considering what he can pull off with a bit of chalk. Thats actually why I gave him Silver Skin. Its lack of direct offensive abilities helps balance him out a little. Plus its fucking cool.**

 **In keeping with the Powered family naming theme, our heroes name is Alexander.**

 **Incidentally, I'm not exaggerating when it comes to the defensive powers of Silver Skin. At all. While wearing it, he might as well be a high level Brute in terms of sheer defensive power. Hell, I'm pretty sure it could even defend him from the Siberian and most Masters. It worked against Victors life drain after all.**

 **I based Alex's Silver Skin on the Captains outfit from Hellsing, albeit changed to match the colours of the Buso Renkin. As cool as the original one was, I just like the military look.**

 **I also plan for a few other characters to get their hands on Kakugane through various means and not just the good guys either. Incidentally, I wonder what would happen if a Victor went up against Scion...I imagine that it wouldn't end well for whatever was nearby.**

 **As far as Alex's power is concerned, if its called Alchemy, he can use it. Whether its from FMA, Type MOON, Skyrim or Buso Renkin, he can use it to its full potential. However, he doesn't get any shortcuts, so he won't be making any Philosophers Stones any time soon and hes limited by the rules of each skillset.**

 **And with that I'm done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!**


	2. Chapter 2

Outsider Chronicles: Full Metal Worm

You know, there were a lot of things I was expecting when I got reborn into a world of traumatized Superheroes. Becoming one of those heroes was actually pretty high up my list, but when your a Tinker whos main trick only needs a bit of chalk, thats Bullshit on a whole other level!

 **And we're back. As much as I'd love to have Alex spend his whole time in costume channeling Bravo, its just not feasible. I can't maintain it He will occasionally bring out his inner Bravo though. Oh, and fair warning, this chapter has Skidmark in it. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

Never had I been so glad for the lessons in martial arts and freerunning from my parents as I was right now. I was currently running across the rooftops of the Docks, inwardly marvelling at how light my Silver Skin was considering it was a completely impregnable shield, as well as how useful it was as a climbing tool. Because it was so strong, I could easily dig my fingers into walls to pull myself up and didn't have to worry about cutting my hands as I climbed any bits of rusted metal.

Much to my surprise, I haven't managed to find any crimes going on yet, but it was still early in the evening. I'd have to head home soon, but I wanted to try and at least find someone I could make an impression on. Alternatively, I could head home and sneak back out once everyone was asleep. I didn't have to get up tomorrow after all. Plus, we were currently in that end of year slump at school between the end of exams and start of the holidays, so it really didn't matter if I fell asleep in class. That said, I don't think that it would be such a good idea.

* * *

A flash of metal caught my eye and I skidded to a stop at the edge of a roof, looking down into the streets below. It looked like I'd stumbled onto a robbery in progress, ABB judging from the bandanners the group were wearing and the fact that they were all of various asian denominations. Frankly, this was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for to cut my teeth on, a bunch of normal idiots robbing a corner shop. Now I just had to hope some idiot hero didn't show up and pick a fight with me without thinking.

I quickly brushed off that thought and watched as the thugs started loading up the things they'd stolen into the back of a nearby van that just so happened to be in the alleyway directly below me, looking around wearally. They probably thought they were mostly in the clear by this point. Time for my dramatic entrance.

I stepped up onto the ledge that surrounded the roof I was on and let myself fall. I landed on the bonnet of the van with a loud crash, making a couple of large dents and probably damaging something important. I didn't even feel the landing thanks to my Buso Renkin. Good god, the Silver Skin is bullshit.

"HALT, CRIMINAL SCUM!" I shouted as the thugs all nearly jumped out of their skin and looked up at me.

"SHIT, CAPE!" yelled one of them as he whipped out a gun.

Before I could react, he fired three times...which did precisely nothing. It didn't even make my Silver Skin tremble. The thug paled as he realized that his gun was utterly useless. I smirked behind my collar.

"A simple gun will not be able to hurt me," I said, continuing to channel the man whose power I shared, "Surrender. You cannot defeat me and I do not wish to fight if I do not have to."

"FUCK YOU YA NAZI BASTARD!" roared one of the ABB goons and they scattered.

I frowned.

"Nazi? Now thats just rude," I muttered and jumped.

I came down on the shoulders of the nearest thug, hard, driving him to the pavement and putting him down with a sharp blow to the temple. The next one went down to a fist to the kidney as I kicked his friend into a nearby dumpster and slammed the lid down on his head. By this point, the last one, and the one who had shot me, had reached the end of the road.

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" I shouted as I took off after him.

The man was certainly fit, but I was fitter and faster, so it didn't take me long to catch up to him and put him in a choke hold. Within seconds, he stopped struggling and I let him go. After checking to make sure he was still alive, I hoisted him over my shoulder and carried him back over to his friends. I took a few seconds to pile the goons on the pavement, before clapping my hands and transmuting a set of bonds out of the wall that would hold them until the cops arrived. I couldn't actually transmute without a circle, but I had discovered that the Silver Skin had a set of simple circles on the gloves. That would be helpful for future fights as it would give me some much needed range for when I couldn't or didn't want to use my ignition gloves. Flame Alchemy was for Cape fights, not random mooks.

I ignored the violent cursing of the few conscious thugs as I finished the concrete bonds, brushed off my gloves and turned to the shop where a few people were watching me from the doorway.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked.

There was a moments silence as everyone tried to decide if they should trust me or not, before someone shoved their way to the front.

"Yes, everyones fine," said the tall, bespectacled man, "They weren't stupid enough to start shooting the place."

"Well, thats a relief," I said, "I take it that someone has called the authorities?"

The man nodded.

"Good, they will need to cut them free, but the goons will not be going anywhere," I said, "Now, I'm sorry to cut this short, but I must be going."

"Wait, whats your name?" called the man.

I hesitated for a moment, before deciding that I might as well.

"You may call me Flamel," I said, "Stay safe!"

And with that I jumped, bouncing off the roof of a nearby van and onto the roof of a nearby building. As I ran across the rooftops away from my first fight, I couldn't stop the fierce grin that crossed my face. The fight had been nerve wracking since I'd never really been in a real fight before, but my skills and Silver Skin had pulled me through. Now all I could feel was a sense of accomplishment and pride over having completed my first rescue without issue. Plus, acting like Bravo was surprisingly fun.

* * *

"You look rather cherpy," said Vicky as I vaulted over the back of the sofa and landed next to her, "Did something good happen?"

"Sort of," I said, "You might say I've had a good day."

Vicky snorted.

"Wish I could say the same," she muttered, "I was gonna hang out with Missy, but she got called away for something."

Hmm, I wonder if I had something to do with that? I mean, I'd dealt with that robbery and stopped about a dozen other crimes on my way home, so there should be some news about a new Cape running around the Bay by now.

"Hey, did you know theres apparently a new Cape running around the Bay?" said Vicky, who had her laptop on her lap and was trawling the PHO forums.

"Really?" I asked, "Any interesting information?"

"Only that he apparently took three gunshots without flinching, can apparently manipulate concrete or something and is rather...energetic," said Vicky, "Theres a picture, here."

She turned the screen to show me. It showed me transmuting the wall into bonds for the thugs I'd caught. Huh, I hadn't even noticed anyone taking it.

"Interesting costume," said Vicky, "Looks professional. I wonder if hes a part of a team?"

"Well, hes not part of the Protectorate or New Wave," I said, "If he was, we'd have heard something about him."

"Thats true," said Vicky, "Maybe hes a Tinker? But that coat doesn't look much like Tinkertech."

I shrugged.  
"I suspect that we'll be finding out more once he really gets started," I said.

"Guess so," said Vicky, before snapping her laptop shut, "Enough of this, lets have some fun!"

We spent the rest of the evening playing Mario Kart.

* * *

The next day saw me perched on top of a particularly tall building, looking out over the city as I enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing past me and making the tails of my coat flap dramatically. I'd already stopped three petty crimes since I'd come out, leaving the crooks tied up with bonds made of whatever junk happened to be nearby for the cops to collect. All in all, a good use of a morning in my opinion.

A flicker of movement on a nearby roof drew my attention. I turned to look and saw Vista and Kid Win making their way across the rooftops in a series of rather nauseating hops as the female Ward bent space to allow them to cover large distances in a single step. The two Wards paused and I saw Vista point in my direction and the two changed direction to head towards me. I remained where I was, watching as they closed in, and turned as they arrived at the roof.

"Hi!" said Vista as soon as they hit the asphalt roof, "Your that new guy, right? Flamel?"

I grinned behind my collar and tipped my hat.

"At your service," I said, "And what can I do for the Wards today?"

"We wanted to meet the new Hero in town," said Vista.

"Yeah and probably try and sell me the idea of joining the Wards, right?" I asked.

The twitches I got were more than enough confirmation.

"Well, let me save you some time and say no," I said, "I am willing to work together though."

"Well, thats a relief," said Kid, "There are so many villains in the city, any help would be appreciated."

I snorted.

"That I can imagine," I said.

"Hey, if your free, why don't you join us for our Patrol?" asked Vista, "I doubt we'll see anything interesting, but it'll help you get some idea of how best to go about it."

Somehow, I couldn't help but get the feeling that she'd just jinxed us, but I nodded and fell into step alongside the other teen Heroes nonetheless.

* * *

"So, what exactly are your powers?" asked Kid a few minutes later as we crossed a ten foot gap in a single step.

"Why?" I asked.

The Tinker shrugged.

"Just curious," he said, "You've been seen tanking bullets and doing something to turn concrete into bonds. Some kind of Brute/Shaker combo?"

I laughed.

"Not really, no," I said, "I think my powers are closer to that of a Tinker, although since I don't deal in tech maybe not…"

I shook my head.

"Never mind. I'm actually an Alchemist."

"An...alchemist?" asked Vista, not looking convinced, "You mean like how Myrridins a Wizard?"

I grinned.

"Nope, because I can actually prove that I'm an Alchemist," I said, "Basically, I can create circles that allow me to transmute matter. I'm limited by the concept of Equivalent Exchange, so I can only get out what I put in. As for my Brute rating, that actually came from this."

I tapped my chest.

"A different application of Alchemy that allowed me to create a uniform thats completely indestructible."

"Thats...rather hard to believe," said Kid Win, "How would that even work?"

"Superpowers!" I said cheerfully, "In all seriousness though, I am aware of how unbelievable my powers are, but its the truth. Not the Truth though, thank god."

"Eh?"

"Never mind."

Kid Win looked like he was about to push, but before he could, Vista spoke up.

"Not to interrupt your fascinating conversation, but we might have trouble," she said.

"Are you using your powers to look ahead again?" asked Kid Win.

In answer, Vista waved an arm and the air in front of us did things that made the universe cry as a window appeared showing Hookwolf and a group of E88 goons facing down a large number of Merchants, including Squealer in a rather ugly contraption that made my inner Alchemist scream in fury and Skidmark, who made my inner decent Human being want to punch something. Under normal circumstances, I'd be happy to let to two gangs duke it out, but for whatever reason, they had decided to make trouble in an inhabited neighborhood. I could see a good many people fleeing, desperately locking windows and a few cowering in alleyways, anything to get out of the gangs path.

"Alright, got it," said Kid Win, who had been reporting the little stand off to whoever was on monitor duty, "We've been ordered to observe and wait for reinforcements."

Vista scowled, but didn't say anything. I on the other hand wasn't about to stick around and potentially let someone get hurt.

"In that case, I'll be taking my leave for now," I said.

"Wait, what?" asked Kid Win, looking shocked.

"This is why I don't want to join the Wards," I said as I turned in the direction of the fight, "I can't leave something like this, not if someone could get hurt. See ya."

I sprinted in the direction of the fight, ignoring the shouts of the Wards as I reached into my pocket and pulled out a bundle of wires. I'd managed to master this particular trick the day before and it would likely prove to be instrumental in this fight. The wires started glowing blue as I channeled Alchemical energy into them, reaching completion just as I reached the last roof before the stand off.

I hit the roofs edge and jumped, charging more energy into my free hand and the circle on the glove as I visualized what I wanted. I'd found that, despite not being as efficient as a proper circle, the Circles that were part of the Silver Skin were able to perform some pretty impressive Transmutations when combined with my Thought Acceleration and Memory Partition. So far, I had three partitions and had managed to achieve about twice the speed of the average person's thought speed, which allowed me to ignore a good portion of a Circles runes and symbols, although I still needed the Circle itself to properly guide the Alchemic energy. I wouldn't be losing that unless I opened the Gate, which I wouldn't be doing anytime soon.

All of that combined meant that, when I hit the ground, a surge of blue energy shot out, crackling like lightning as the ground bucked like a living thing, the already cracked asphalt breaking up into even smaller pieces and shifting as it was used to form massive walls in front of alleyways and inhabited buildings to keep the fight from accidentally hurting anyone. They wouldn't keep someone like Hookwolf or Squealers truck from simply plowing through them of course, I wasn't that good, but it would stop someone from getting hit by accident.

"Evening scumbags," I said as I slowly straightened.

 **And that'll do. Sorry for the cliffhanger, but theres a strong possibility that I'll actually continue this one.**

 **Like I said up top, I can't have him act like Bravo all the time. Its fun as hell to write the guy, but I quickly found myself running face first into a wall and eventually just gave up. That said, expect some Bravo moments.**

 **And since I can't think of anything else to say, I'll be signing off now. Don't forget to leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Outsider Chronicles: Full Metal Worm

You know, there were a lot of things I was expecting when I got reborn into a world of traumatized Superheroes. Becoming one of those heroes was actually pretty high up my list, but when your a Tinker whos main trick only needs a bit of chalk, thats Bullshit on a whole other level!

 **And we're back. Since Buso Renkin desperately needs more love, I decided to continue this idea, even if Buso Renkin is mostly peripheral. Oh, and fair warning, this chapter has Skidmark in it. And Hookwolf. I'm gonna need a shower after this. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

"Hey, who the fuck are you ya cum sucking dickhead?!" yelled Skidmark with his usual complete lack of anything resembling manners.

I scowled behind my collar. I was going to enjoy this far more than I probably should.

"My name is Flamel," I said cooly, "And I'm afraid...no, actually, I'm ordering you lot to clear out. If you want to kill each other, go do it somewhere without anyone around. If you do it here, someone will have to clean up the mess."

The drugged up Cape went red and launched into a string of profanities that would make even the most hardened of sailors blush. I quickly lost patients with the coked up Cape and placed my hands on the ground. There was a spark of Alchemical energy and a fist made of stone shot out of the ground and punched Skidmark in the chin, sending him pinwheeling over his goons heads to land head first in a bin. A deep belly laugh from behind me made me scowl again and turn to glare at Hookwolf.

"HAH, you got spunk kid!" he growled, "You really showed that ni…"

That was as far as he got before another fist shot out of the ground and slammed into his crotch. There was a moment of complete silence as everyone stared at the Nazi Cape, wide eyed as he went completely still. There was an oddly loud gust of wind, before Hookwolf slowly toppled over, clutching his crushed nads with a wheezy gasp of pain.

"I have even less tolerance for racism than I do for drugged up morons," I growled, "Now, are you lot going to bugger off or…"

I threw the wires still in my hand into the air where they immediately twisted themselves into a flock of glowing blue birds.

"Do I have to get rough?" I finished as the chests of the birds began to glow an ominous red.

My answer was Skidmark managing to free himself from the bin with a loud crash, his face now purple with rage. He pushed himself to his feet, a rancid banana peel dripping off his head as he pointed at me.

"SOMEONE KILL THAT…"

And the rest of the order was basically swears. I took a moment to mentally note a few of them down for later before ordering the Storch Ritter I'd created to attack. I still had no idea exactly how I'd managed to replicate the von Einzbern Mystery, but considering I knew exactly how to make an Einzbern Homunculus, I imagine it probably came from that somehow. My version fired bolts of energy that hit with the force and shock value of a taser, making them handy for dealing with random mooks. They quickly proved that by dive bombing the E88 goons and drugged up Merchants in a hail of red light and zapping sounds.

I ignored my simple constructs in favour of charging Squealers rig, dancing around Skidmark's attempts to trap me with his energy bands. With Hookwolf out for the count with crushed testicals, she was the main threat. Oh, I doubted she could bust my Silver Skin, but it couldn't protect me from everything and if she missed (which considering the fact she was probably high as a kite at the moment, was rather likely), she could well end up hurting the bystanders, even through the walls I'd made. As I ran, the right glove of the Silver Skin dissolved, revealing the white glove that I wore underneath. I jumped to avoid a bolt of blue light from the gun mounted on the Tinker rig and smirked as I lifted my hand, revealing the blood red circle picked out in silk thread on the back.

"HAH, I GOT YOU NOW!" yelled Squealer as her gun spooled up.

"No, I've got you," I said.

Then I snapped my fingers.

BOOOM!

My eyes went wide. Maybe I should have practiced with these things before I actually used them. That explosion had been a lot larger than I had been expecting, although it definitely took the Tinker rig out for the count. Along with Skidmark and a good number of Merchants. I really needed to practice with my Ignition gloves.

A heavy blow from behind made me stumble and I spun around to see that Hookwolf had recovered and he was pissed. Not that I really blame him of course, but if he didn't want me to go for the low blows, he shouldn't be a murderous Nazi.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" he roared as he charged me.

Its surprising how much a high voice could take an edge of a threat, even when its backed up by a swirl of deadly metal. Before I could react, a massive blade shot out and hit my stomach with enough force to shear me in two...only to be stopped cold as the surface of my coat turned into a layer of silver hexagons.

"What the fuck?!" spluttered Hookwolf, "How did…"

"Heh, Buso Renkin of the Metal Jacket, Silver Skin," I said, "The surface both turns into hard metal and instantly regenarates when something strikes it. It is one of my greatest creations. You think I wear this because I think it looks cool?"

Hookwolf scowled.

"Fucking Tinkers!" he snarled, "Still, its just a defencive bit of tech, not a real weapon! I'll tear that jacket off you and turn you to mush!"

He let out a horrible, screeching roar and lunged at me in a swirling mass of metal.

"Did he miss what I did to the truck?" I muttered as I lowered my stance and lifted my arms, "Whatever, I've got just the thing to deal with him."

Hookwolf slammed into me with a shriek of metal on metal….followed by a crackle of energy, a flash of light and an almighty crash as the metal covering Hookwolf shattered into a thousand pieces. Thank you Scar. The Nazi Cape's eyes went wide at the sudden loss of his main form of protection and attack, right before I slammed a fist into his back as he sailed past, slamming him into the ground with enough force to crack the concrete. Since most of Hookwolfs Brute rating came from the metal under his skin, the same metal I'd just shattered, he was out like a light. I took a moment to Transmute some extremely solid and skintight bonds out of the concrete, before turning my attention to the rest of the fight. If it could be called that. My Golems had already taken out most of the mooks and those that were still up were rapidly falling as the blue birds ganged up on them and rained even more red bolts down on their heads. Skidmark was back on his feet and looking like he was about to keel over as he glared at me, but apparently he still had a few brain cells left because he didn't move to attack me.

"YOU'LL REGRET THIS!" he screamed, albeit with a lot more prophanaty, "YOUR DEAD YA BASTARD! YOU HEAR ME!? DEAD!"

And with that, he turned and fled through the hole Squealers Rig had blasted in the walls when I'd blown it up. I would have gone after him, but he really wasn't worth the effort. I'd taken down Hookwolf, Squealer and a whole load of mooks and kept anyone from getting hurt. That was a win in my book.

I was just about to go and remove the walls, when a clatter from Squealers truck drew my attention. I tensed, ready in case the Tinker was still battle ready. Instead, the door opened and fell off its hinges, allowing Squealer to slump out of the rig and to the ground. She didn't look good. Apparently, I had been WAY to aggressive with my Flame Alchemy or had underestimated her Rigs defences because she was covered in third degree burns. A good chunk of her hair was gone and her clothes were on fire, but the worst of it was a jagged shard of metal through her gut.

I immediately sprinted over and skidded to a stop beside the injured Tinker. Merchant junky or not, I wouldn't allow anyone to die on my watch. Besides, according to most of the information I had, most of Squealers crimes were either traffic violations, drug possession and violating good taste in her vehicle designs, dress sense and taste in men, none of which were worthy of death. I quickly checked her over, putting my training in first aid to good use.

It didn't look good. The burns alone would have her down for months, but the chunk of metal through her gut had definitely done damage to her digestive system, enough that she'd need either extensive surgery or Panacea to survive. Thats if she actually made it to the hospital and I somehow doubted that whatever concoction of drugs she had in her was helping.

I bit my lip. If I didn't do something, she'd die. I had a couple of options to heal her, but the basics of Medical Alchemy I had access to wouldn't be enough, I only had one Kakugane and it was currently my Silver Skin and most of the other options I had either took to long or resources I didn't have. That left only the health potion I'd made by complete accident. I reached into the pouch on my belt and pulled out the crimson vial. It...would work, there was no doubt about that, it would definitely save her life, although I had no idea if it would heal all her injuries or just keep her alive. Squealer coughed, spitting out more blood as her breathing started to slow. Fuck it.

I quickly turned her on her back and hoisted her up into my arms, ignoring the blood, oil and other filth that covered her as I pulled the cork out of the vial with my teeth.

"I really hope I don't regret this," I muttered as I opened her mouth and tipped the healing potion down her throat.

Squealer choked slightly, but the potion was already in her stomach and beginning its work. Already the burns were starting to look a little better and her other injuries were starting to heal. I took hold of the metal spike and pulled it out, making the unconscious Cape whimper in her sleep. A quick check revealed that the damage was already starting to heal.

Once I was sure she wasn't about to die, I got to my feet and pressed my hands to the closest wall. There was a brilliant flash of light as Alchemic energy surged out, taking the walls apart and reforming them into a road covering that looked brand new. I kept my hands pressed to the wall, keeping an eye on the process to make sure I didn't fuck up...right up until the wall directly in front of me vanished and I found myself staring at the sharp blade of a halberd.

"HOLY…!" I yelped, jumping back in shock.

Fortunately, the Transmutation was well underway and self maintaining by this point, so I didn't fall pray to my powers malfunctioning. Apparently I'd either been really distracted by everything that was happening or Armsmasters bike was really fucking quiet because the leader of the Protectorate had apparently managed to arrive without me noticing, along with Assault and Battery, who looked like they were charging up to try and break down my walls.

"Well, that makes things easier," said Assault.

Armsmaster ignored him

"Identify yourself," he said, pointing his Halberd at me.

"Flamel, I'm a hero," I said, a little shortly.

I didn't exactly have the best opinion of Armsmaster considering some of the things he got up to in canon. Besides, I just knew he was going to judge the hell out of me when he found out I was an Alchemical Tinker.

"Your the one Vista and Kid Win reported," said the older Tinker, lowering his weapon, "What happened here?"

I shrugged.

"I arrived, made sure the fight couldn't hurt any bystanders and took down the hostiles," I said, "The thugs are all down, Skidmark got away, Squealer was injured and I wouldn't recommend moving her until my...medicine finishes fixing some of the damage and Hookwolfs bound up over there."

I pointed at the lump of concrete that held the Empire Brute.

"I'll let him out when your ready to pick him up," I said.

Armsmaster frowned as he indicated to Assault and Battery to start gathering up the goons to be foamed as soon as the PRT arrived.

"Medicine?" he asked.

I twitched.

"I'm a Tinker," I said, "One of the things I've been able to make is a pretty effective healing potion, although getting hold of the ingredients is gonna be a pain…"

Armsmasters lips turned down slightly and I got the impression he was frowning under his helmet.

"A medical Tinker?" he asked, "Thats...rare."

I snorted.

"Not even close," I said, "The potion is just one of the many, MANY things I can do. Oh, and before you pull that shtick about Tinkers not lasting long before someone either kills or forcibly recruits them, I wouldn't worry. My...tech isn't something that's easy to counter."

"YOWCH!"

I turned around to see Assault running around as a flock of Storch Ritter bombarded him with bolts.

"GET EM OFF ME!" yelped the red clad hero.

"Oops, sorry," I said and snapped my fingers.

The constructs immediately broke off and flew over to me where they unravel back into the wires they were made from as they landed in my outstretched hand.

"Need to work out those IFF glitches," I muttered.

"What were they?" asked Assault.

"Storch Ritter," I said, "Their very basic golems I created for dealing with non-powered goons. They still have a few bugs to be worked out though."

I slipped the wires into my pocket. By this point, a couple of Vans baring the PRT logo and an ambulance had pulled up and the troopers were taking the still dazed gang members into custody. I turned back to Armsmaster to see that his lips had got even thinner.

"You took untested equipment into battle?" he asked.

"Of course I didn't," I said, "I'm not that stupid! Besides, even if they were untested, its not possible for them to do much more than give a bad burn."

I decided not to mention my Ignition gloves. Armsmaster opened his mouth and I readied myself for a poorly thought out demand to accompany him to the PRT headquarters that in any other story would have resulted in the hero legging it. Instead, he paused, took a visible deep breath and relaxed slightly.

"Alright, thank you for your assistance in this matter," he said, although he sounded like he was forcing himself to do so, "Would you be willing to present yourself at the PRT HQ to give a statement?"

I raised an eyebrow. I wonder if he was talking to Dragon under that helmet? I shrugged off that thought in favour of looking at my watch under my Buso Renkin.

"Ah, not tonight I can't," I said, "I have a curfew to meet. I'll come down tomorrow if thats acceptable?"

Armsmaster visibly twitched and nodded jurkally.

"Great, in that case, I'd better get going," I said, "See ya."

I turned and left, pausing only to free Hookwolf so he could be foamed. Well, that had certainly been an interesting experience.

 **And done. I'm not...entirely pleased with the ending, but I've rewritten it about four times, so this will do. I did have fun smacking Hookwolf and Skidmark around though.**

 **Just to be clear, the only reason he had such an easy time against them was because Hookwolf massively underestimated him and had no idea of what he could do. Skidmark was because hes an idiot and drugged half out of his mind. Next time, you can bet he'll be in for a far tougher fight.**

 **Yes, the fact he gave Squealer the potion will play a role in the future, although maybe not for a few chapters.**

 **The next chapter might take a while because I plan to make it a PHO interlude. I'm using a handy wizard, but I still need to make the posts sound reasonably. Plus, real life is giving my arse a good kicking, so I don't really feel like writing anything as often as usual...eh, I'll get over it**

 **Anyway, this is done so I'm signing off. Don't forget to leave a review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Outsider Chronicles: Full Metal Worm

You know, there were a lot of things I was expecting when I got reborn into a world of traumatized Superheroes. Becoming one of those heroes was actually pretty high up my list, but when your a Tinker whos main trick only needs a bit of chalk, thats Bullshit on a whole other level!

 **And we're back. I know I said that this chapter would be an interlude, but I realized part way through writing it that I needed this chapter to work things through. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

The next day saw me stood in the lobby of the PRT HQ, doing my best to ignore the tense guards and gawking public. My explosive introduction had resulted in me getting a fair amount of attention on PHO, which meant that everyone knew that I was the one who took down Hookwolf and Squealer, although it was mostly the former that had everyone impressed. After all, while Squealer could be dangerous with her vehicles, she didn't have a body count.

Fortunately, I wasn't waiting long or I might have got bored and Transmuted a statue in the waiting hall.

"Flamel?"

"Thats...me?!" I said as I turned to the woman who had approached me.

The reason for my shock was relatively woman in question was wearing the uniform of a PRT officer and looked to be in her mid 20s, with blonde hair clipped up and brown eyes. She had a bulky pistol strapped to her hip and a nametag pinned to her chest that revealed her name was Riza Hawkeye. Right, cus that makes a lot of sense. Hawkeye nodded.

"Yes, Armsmaster said you'd be coming," she said, "If you'll follow me, we can get this done and then the Director wants to speak to you."

"Great, that'll be fun," I muttered as I followed her into the lift.

* * *

The actual de-briefing didn't take that long, just going over what happened during the fight to make sure they had everything correct and collaborated with what the witnesses said. I couldn't help but spot the tiny smirk Hawkeye gave when I mentioned smacking Hookwolf in the nuts, but other than that, she was cool and professional throughout, enough that I just couldn't get a read on her. I got the feeling she didn't think much of me though.

With the debriefing done, Hawkeye led me up another level and into an office where I was met by Director Piggott, Armsmaster and Miss Militia.

"Thank you Lieutenant," said Piggott as we stopped in front of the desk.

Hawkeye saluted and left the room.

"Sit."

I did so, doing my best not to squirm under the scrutiny of two powerful Capes and the Director. After a couple of seconds, Piggott looked down at the file on her desk.

"I understand that your a Tinker?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

She fixed me with another look.

"You are aware of the dangers of being an Unattached Tinker, correct?" she asked.

I nodded. She frowned and flipped a page.

"And yet you don't want to join the Wards? Why?"

I sighed.

"Because I don't want to be a PR tool," I said.

"What?" asked Piggott.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Miss Militia, "The Wards are a place for young Heroes to hone their skills and learn more about their powers."

"True, but they also have to bend to the whims of a bunch of stuck up old moral guardians who don't know the first thing about being a Parahuman," I said, "Not only that, but the Wards are limited to patrols around 'safe' areas and aren't supposed to get involved in fights, even if they happen right in front of them. I cannot and will not do that. Not only that, but I can't guarantee that my creations that can help people will go to those that need it. I can do a lot more good as an Independent than I ever could as a member of the Protectorate."

"You mean like the medicine you gave Squealer?" asked Piggot.

I nodded.

"That potion is capable of healing any physical wound you can think of," I said, "Don't misunderstand my intentions, I have no intention of becoming a villain and I'm more than willing to work with you all, but I will not place myself under your command."

I sat back in my seat and met Piggots even gaze. Despite her well known dislike of Parahumans, I couldn't help but notice a slight glimmer of respect in her eyes.

"Well, I can't say your not determined," she said, "I wish all Parahumans were like you."

She shook her head and sighed.

"Well, thats enough of that," she said, "Do you have anything to show us so we can get some idea of what your capable of? That potion you gave Squealer was certainly impressive and the hospital director is chomping at the bit to get in touch with you."

"I'll head down there later," I said, "Some of which I have to show you will need a bit of open space, but I do have one of my more...impressive creations."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a Kakugane that was stamped with the number XII. I'd been churning them out as a just in case and was up to about 20 once the latest batch was done. I put the Alchemical medallion on Piggots desk.

"What is it?" asked Miss Militia as Armsmaster lent over it, his mouth twisting into a rather confused expression.

"I...don't know," said the older Tinker, "It does not match any known alloy and I'm detecting a rather odd energy field."

"Its called a Nucleus," I said, "It is perhaps the most powerful item I'm willing to create right now. Its most basic ability is to resonate with the Human instinct, granting enhanced healing or can be used to manifest the users fighting instinct into a weapon."

I tapped my Silver Skin.

"My costume is mine."

"What kind of weapons are you talking about?" asked Miss Militia, looking rather interested.

I shrugged.

"Could be anything," I said, "From an indestructible suit of armour, to mentally controlled napalm or gunpowder to an axe capable of controlling gravity. The only thing you can be sure of is that it will be unique to a person and it will be powerful."

"And anyone can use them?" asked Piggot.

"So long as they have Human instinct, yes," I said, "Thats why I'm fitting them all with tracking devices for retrieval if they go missing."

"Yes, that does sound like a good idea," said Piggot dryly as she poked the Kakugane.  
Then things got weird. Without warning or any apparent input from the director, the Kakugane snapped open and a huge amount of light poured forth. Before anyone could do more than yelp, Piggot found herself holding a cross shaped spear with a red lacquered handle. My eyes went wide as a complete understanding of the newly formed Kakugane flowed into me (not that it was needed since I recognized it immediately) and bright blue Alchemical energy started crackling off Piggots body. The entire process took less time than it took Armsmaster to leap to his feet and draw his Halberd.

"What the FUCK WAS THAT?!" roared the Director, shooting to her feet and throwing the spear away, "What did you do?!"

"I didn't do anything!" I protested, "I said that Nuclei react to the Human instinct and the most basic one is to survive! Your body was dieing and it was your own stubbornness that kept it that way when it could so easily be healed!"

I took a deep breath and wrangled my emotions back under control.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that the Nucleus reacted to your subconscious desire to be healed and activated. Thats also where your Buso Renkin came from."

Piggot frowned.

"Buso what?"

"Japanese for Arms Alchemy," I said, "I happen to like how it sounds. Anyway, that is the weapon your instincts formed with the help of the Nucleus, a spear with the ability to completely regenerate your body."

Piggot blinked.

"What?"

I raised an eyebrow and pointed down. Sure enough, she was standing tall and strong, her legs not shaking in the slightest like they had when she stood to greet me.

"Apparently I have an instinctive grasp of what the Buso Renkin created from my Nuclai are capable of," I said, "And yours just healed you completely."

I bent down and picked up the Cross Spear and tossed it up. The Buso Renkin arched gracefully and transformed back into a Kakugane as it slapped back into my palm.

"Fascinating," said Armsmaster, eyeing the Alchemical miracle in my palm, "I can't even get a proper read on what that energy was!"

"Can't help you there," I said, "My skills aren't really geared towards any kind of technology."

I slipped the medallion back into my pocket.

"So, power testing?"

* * *

The rest of the day was spent showing off what I could do so the PRT could get an accurate (or at least as accurate as I'd let them) idea of what I could do. Technically, I didn't need to do any of this, but I wanted to at least have a fairly good relationship with the Protectorate, even if I wouldn't ever join it and this was a good place to start.

* * *

Three hours later, I was out of the PRT building and walking home out of costume. As I crossed the Boardwalk, I noticed a few men dressed in black suits that looked like the security most of the shops hired to keep from being hassled start toward me, before they abruptly cut off their approach and moved away. I narrowed my eyes. I regularly came to the Boardwalk and I'd never once been hassled by any of the security, so there was no reason for them to try today. I overclocked my mind with Thought Acceleration and quickly came to the conclusion that they probably worked for Coil. Hmm, I wonder what made him cut off his attempt? He probably tried in another timeline and it went rather badly for him.

I made a mental note to watch my back for any assassination attempts and sped up to get home quick.

* * *

When I got home, it was to find my sister sitting at the dining table with one of her school friends, sharing a large tub of ice cream.

"Hey Alex," said both girls as I walked in.

"Hey girls," I said, "So, I take it your staying again Aisha?"

Yep, in addition to Vista, my sister was friends with Aisha Laborn. To be honest, I'm not entirely surprised that the two had become friends since they shared the same caustic tongue when annoyed, but I'm pretty sure that the relationship was good for Aisha. For one thing, she wasn't as much of a rebellious brat as she was in canon, mostly thanks to Mums ability to mother anyone she met, even if said person was older and much stronger than her. Hell, I bet she could probably send an Endbringer to its room given half the chance!

Anyway, Mum had basically adopted the girl the first time Vicky had bought her home with a rather large bruise on her stomach and a black eye caused by one of her mothers boyfriends and since then, whenever things got bad at home, Aisha ended up at our house for a patch up, a tub of ice cream and somewhere safe to sleep. That had been about two months ago and since then, Mum had been on the warpath to get permanent custody of Aisha or at least get her away from the drugged up bitch who called herself the girls mother. Considering she was every bit as scary as Danny Hebert when pissed off, it was going rather well by all accounts.

"Well, don't stay up too late," I said, "And keep it down. I've got a lot of work to do."

The two girls nodded and went back to giggling about something as I headed upstairs and locked myself in my room. I had plans to make. I knew that the Empire would be trying to spring Hookwolf and I had no intention of allowing that to happen. That psycho would be getting to the Birdcage this time or I was going to make damn sure to give Othella a LOT of work to do. It had been relatively easy to get my hands on the schedule of the prison transport that would be taking Hookwolf out of the city, to easy in fact. Apparently the PRT leaked like a sieve and I made a mental note to talk to Armsmaster or Miss Militia about it. Even with my Dad being the commander of the Troopers, I should NOT have been able to get my hands on this information as easily as I did and if I had it, that probably meant that Kaiser did.

I brushed off that thought for now and knuckled down in trying to figure out the best way of going about stopping the prison break. This could take a while.

 **Done. I admit, I'm not entirely pleased with this chapter, but it works.**

 **I plan on including some characters from the various series I'm taking Alex's powers from the flesh out the roster of side characters a little, but none of them will be more than normal Humans. I MIGHT include some as Capes for when the inevitable fight with Leviathan roles around, but thats not set in stone.**

 **I actually intended to use Aisha for an important role in the story from the start, but her being friends with Vicky is a recent thing. I plan for Alex to form his own faction armed with Buso Renkin, mostly taken from the series. I wonder if you can guess who will have what?**

 **I'm not entirely sure why I gave the director Gekisen, it just sort of happened. It does fit her though and means she'll be much better at her job later down the line. Speaking of, I could use a new name for that since I don't think Piggot would give her weapon a Japanese name. Alternatively, she might not get to use it again…**

 **Anyway, I'm done here. Next time will be an interlude and we get to see what freaked out Coil enough that he decided that discretion was the better part of valor. We'll also get to see if the Wizard I'm using for PHO discussion boards is any good and if I'm any good at writing them. Until then, don't forget to leave a review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Outsider Chronicles: Full Metal Worm

You know, there were a lot of things I was expecting when I got reborn into a world of traumatized Superheroes. Becoming one of those heroes was actually pretty high up my list, but when your a Tinker whos main trick only needs a bit of chalk, thats Bullshit on a whole other level!

 **And we're back. Heres the actual interlude. Lets see whats going on with some of our favorite Thinkers! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

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Topic: Silver guy

In: Boards ► New Cape sightings ► Brockton Bay

Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)

Posted On Dec 20th 2010:

Hi guys, I got news! You remember that guy who made an appearance a few days ago stopping a convenience store robbery? Apparently, he made another spectacular appearance today and managed to take down not one, but three Capes! And get this, one of them was Hookwolf! Here are some links to videos to prove I'm not full of shit:

LINK

LINK

LINK

Can I just take a moment to say that, while I'd normally never condone smacking anyone in the family jewels, I can safely say I'll make an exception for this?

Anyway, since I know everyones interested, apparently he's an independent and has made it perfectly clear he has no intentions of joining the Wards. Normally, I'd say that was a bad idea, but considering those videos, I think he'll be fine.

EDIT: Apparently his names Flamel. I have no idea where that came from, any guesses?

EDIT 2: OK, I've got his ratings. Apparently, he claims to be a Tinker, but since theirs no sign of tech, here are the numbers hes been assigned as of right now:

Brute 4, Shaker/Striker 7, Master 3.

The Master rating comes from those little bird things he used against the mooks.

(Showing page 1 of 21)

►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)

Replied On Dec 20th 2010:

HOLY SHIT, that was badass! Did you see how far Skidmark flew?

►BadSamurai

Replied On Dec 20th 2010:

Screw Skidmark, I'm to busy walking on air at seeing Hookwolf getting smacked in the junk.

►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)

Replied On Dec 20th 2010:

Ohh, someones made a video of both to the tune of Beethoven's ninth symphony. I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful!

►Answer Key

Replied On Dec 13th 2010:

Flamel huh? That sounds vaguely french. Hang on...

OK, I got it. Apparently, Nicholas Flamel was a scholar in France during the 14th-15th century and was credited as an Alchemist who discovered how to create the Philosophers Stone and become immortal.

►Char

Replied On Dec 13th 2010:

So what your saying is that he thinks hes some kind of Alchemist? Great, another Myrddin...

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned)

Replied On Dec 13th 2010:

Actually, considering what he was doing in the video, that might not be far from the truth. Alchemy is all about converting matter and he was doing just that.

►WhedonRipperFan

Replied On Dec 13th 2010:

Wow, an actual sensible post for once! Think hes learning?

►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned)

Replied On Dec 13th 2010:

Tin Mother: And once again your in the dog house. Enjoy your week long ban!

►WhedonRipperFan

Replied On Dec 13th 2010:

Never mind.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 19, 20, 21

(Showing page 2 of 21)

►Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)

Replied On Dec 13th 2010:

He'll never learn.

►LittleOwl

Replied On Dec 13th 2010:

Hey, I think this guy saved my dad a couple of days ago during a robbery he got caught up in!

►Flamel (Verified Cape) (Unverified Alchemist)

Replied On Dec 14th 2010:

Oh for...do those idiots over at the PRT actually listen to a word anyone says!? I'm a Tinker god damn it! I might no use traditional tech, but neither does Cask and he still got noted correctly!

EDIT: Where the hell did that tag come from?

►Char

Replied On Dec 14th 2010:

Yeah, but claiming to be an Alchemist is a bit different from making bullshit mixtures.

►Flamel (Verified Cape) (Unverified Alchemist)

Replied On Dec 14th 2010:

...I can make healing potions out of wheat and mushrooms, Humans out of shit bought from the supermarket and Chimera out of roadkill. I'm a TINKER DAMN IT! Just because my main trick uses chalk instead of nuts and bolts and my workshop smells of Mercury and sulphur instead of oil and grease does not mean I'm somehow illegible for the title!

►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)

Replied On Dec 14th 2010:

Wait, your workshop smells of farts?

►Flamel (Verified Cape) (Unverified Alchemist)

Replied On Dec 14th 2010:

Only when I'm working on my path to immortality ;P. Oh, and before anyone starts shouting about Nilbog, I was joking about the Homunculi and chimera.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 19, 20, 21

* * *

Tattletale

Lisa Wilborne sat back in her chair as her power crunched the information gained in reading the thread. Coil had ordered her to find out everything she could about the Alchemist and even over the phone, he had sounded scared. He'd done something or discovered something about the new Cape that had scared him shitless and now he wanted leverage. With that in mind, Lisa had gone to work, not for Coil, but for her. Anyone who could scare Coil that much was someone she was interested in meeting.

However, after reviewing what her power had found, she wasn't so sure. For starters, she had quickly deduced that not only was he being completely honest about being able to create Chimera, Homunculi and Immortality, but he was actually underselling his powers. Not only that, but he seemed to be spoofing her powers somehow because they kept throwing up conflicting information. For example, they had identified him as being both 36 and 16 and he was apparently both British and American and not in the sense that he'd been born in Britain and them moved early in life.

Lisa quickly pushed that aside as, while interesting, it wasn't relevant. What was was the rather odd code he seemed to have. He didn't have a high regard for the PRT or Protectorate, but he was willing to work with them, he despised the gangs and had an equally odd respect for the Unwritten Rules. He would happily follow them without issue, so long as others continued to do the same. However, if someone broke them regarding himself or those close to him, he would be equally as happy to do the same and utterly destroy the idiot responsable. He was dangerous, skilled and extremely deadly.

However, the final and most amazing conclusion her powers reached was a simple one. If she asked, he would help her. Actually, he would help anyone who needed it, including her teammates, but only if they asked. He'd probably ask for something in return, but that was to be expected and, unlike Coil, he'd keep his bargains. Equivalent Exchange, just like any true Alchemist.

With her conclusions reached, Lisa sat forwards again and started to plan. This would require some careful thought to pull off.

* * *

Coil

Coil stared down at his hand, watching as the limb trembled despite his best efforts to stop it. He still wasn't entirely sure why he felt like this, especially when you consider that the root cause was a teenager not even out of high school. Under normal circumstances, Coil would consider the idea that anyone could scare him this much to be ludicrous, but that didn't change the fact that Alexander Powered, Flamel, had managed to do something that no one since Nilbog and Contessa had truly managed to do. He had shaken Coil.

The wannabe Bond Villain scowled as he clenched his fist and knocked back the glass of whisky he was nursing. He couldn't keep sitting here like this, he had to figure out how the damned Tinker had discovered his identity and plans so easily! Whats more, he had to figure out how he knew about the Cauldron and what he knew that would make him so valuable that they'd be willing to send Contessa after him. Preferably before he figured out any more of his plans. Coil did NOT want to find out what Flamel would do if he discovered what he had planned for his future Pet. The mess he'd made of Coils mercenaries who'd attempted to kill him following the Tinkers refusal was enough to give even Nilbog nightmares.

* * *

Alexandria

Chief Director Costa-Brown scowled as she looked down at the file in front of her. Even after all this time, all the horrible things she'd done, some things still made her want to be sick, even if she knew they were necessary. This was one of them. The idea of sending an innocent woman to the hell on earth that was the Birdcage for what amounted to a misdemeanor at best made her want to punch someone. Preferably Tagg, the smug prick.

The Worlds Strongest Woman sighed as she picked up her pen and prepared to make the signature that would take them one step closer to both Victory and hell, but before she could, a hand shot out of thin air and caught her wrist. Alexandria's head snapped around and she was surprised to see that the intruder was Contessa. However, the normally composed woman looked shaken and had a rather manic look in her eye.

"Whats wrong?" asked Rebecca, "Has something happened?"

"You could say that," said the hat wearing woman, "The Path has changed. Our chance of victory has gone up."

Rebecca felt her heart leap. Despite all their sins and best efforts, the chances of victory was miniscule at the moment.

"To what?" she asked.

"87%," said Contessa, "But to do that, we need to make sure that we don't alienate Flamel."

Rebecca frowned. That name sounded familiar. It took less than a second for her perfect memory to provide the answer.

"The new Tinker in Brockton?" she asked in surprise, "The one who calls himself an Alchemist? What does he have to do with anything?"

Contessa met Rebecca's gaze, her normally calm gaze holding a rather unsettling gleam.

"Everything," she said, "I have seen the Truth and Flamel will be the keystone to stopping Scion. One way or another."

* * *

Dragon

Dragon simulated a frown as she went over the data gathered during Flamel's power assessment. Despite the conclusions reached by the testers, she could clearly see all the indications that he was telling the truth and was some kind of Tinker, although he certainly wasn't a typical one. Like with all new Tinkers, Dragon had felt her non-existent heart lift upon hearing about him, only to sink again when she realized that no, he couldn't help her.

He didn't have anything even close to a programing specialty that could potentially free her. However, despite that, she couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, he had something that could do more than just free her from her constricting programing, although what that was she had no idea.

 _ **You get nothing by not asking.**_

If Dragon had a body, she would have jumped out of her skin. The voice had come out of nowhere and apparently sounded inside her non-existent head. A quick systems diagnostics revealed that nothing was wrong and there was no evidence that the simple statement had ever been uttered. Now that was rather worrying.

Dragon frowned again. Then again, despite the fact she wasn't entirely sure where the statement had come from, it wasn't entirely wrong. He wasn't a Tinker in the usual sense, but if he truly was an Alchemist, who knew what he was capable of? There was a genuine chance that he could help her.

However, she wasn't about to jump in blindly. First, she'd watch the young Tinker and see what he did. He'd already put in a good showing, so Dragon was confident she wouldn't be disappointed. This was looking to be an interesting experience.

* * *

Squealer

When Sherrel Bailey woke up, she felt great. In fact, she felt better than she had in years, which was more than a little odd because she distinctly remembered getting badly burnt and taking a massive chunk of metal through the gut, even through the haze brought on by drug use. Besides which, she normally felt like shit after waking up until she'd had a good few puffs of the good stuff.

She slowly opened her eyes and was met by the familiar ceiling of a PRT cell. Great, looks like she'd been captured again. Oh well, just had to wait for Skids and the others to…

Sherrel's eyes suddenly snapped open wide as the thought of her boyfriend triggered a landslide of memories, somehow un-blurred by drugs and rose tinted glasses. There were gaps of course, times when she'd been so high that she was damn close to permanently gaining wings, but there was still more than enough to show her just what a trainwreck her life had been since she'd met Adam and fallen in with the 'bad' crowd, a feat that wasn't really that hard when you considered that her background wasn't exactly stellar. Actually, considering the fact that her Trigger Event was being sexually assaulted by her stepfather while her mother was pass out drunk on the couch of their trailer, that was a bit of an understatement.

Even so, her descent into a coked up junky had started simple enough, just getting high with Adam on weed, then moving on to snorting coke. Then Adam decided that he didn't want to just take drugs, he wanted in on the sweet cash they normally paid for their good times and it was all downhill from there.

Sherrel barely made it to the toilet before she threw up. She let out a choked sob when she saw the black sludge that had come out of her and somehow knew that it was the net result of all the shit she'd put in her body over the years. She curled up in the corner of her cell, shivering as the horrible memories of her fucked up life swirled around in her head. Apparently, someone noticed and mistook her reaction because the flap on the bottom of the door opened and someone pushed in a tray with a needle of some drug the PRT gave to drug addicts so their withdrawal symptoms didn't kill or permanently incapacitate them. Normally, the sight of the needle would be the one light in the boring darkness of waiting for a rescue for the Merchant Tinker, but now it just made her want to be sick again. In fact, thats exactly what she did, expelling more foul smelling black goo.

* * *

Sherrel didn't know how long she remained where she was, tormented by images of her fucked up life and intermittently throwing up more gunk, but eventually she managed to pull herself together enough to think. One thing was for sure, she couldn't go back to the Merchants, not after seeing the end result come out of her as a result of whatever the hell it was that had fixed her body. Of course, she didn't want to go to prison and she certainly wasn't about to join the Protectorate. No, instead she was going to get out of her cell, find the person who helped her and thank him profusely. She remembered what he looked like, his silver coat shining in the dying fires of her last creation as a Merchant, so it shouldn't be that hard. After that...well, she'd decide once she got there. For now, she had to get out before the Merchants came for her.

 **And there we go. Well, that was significantly easier to write than the last chapter, but it might be because I already had the PHO thread done.**

 **So, what do we think? It looks like Alex is already having an effect on the worlds Thinkers and even a few other events without even trying. Now the only question is, did Contessa just see the truth...or The Truth. Either way, it had a rather impressive effect on her.**

 **Coils scared shitless of Flamel and for good reason. While he is nominally a hero and generally won't break the Unwritten Rules, once someone does it to him, he'll stop holding back and splatter them over the nearest wall, Scar style.**

 **So, Dragons got her eye on our young Hero with designs on possibly asking for his help. What will this result in? Well, that we'll have to wait to found out.**

 **And Squealers back and feeling better than ever. Shes also been cleaned out, violently, and has a new lease on life. Don't worry, shes not going to go Yandere or anything, but she does have a rather high opinion of Flamel which could potentially cause trouble down the line.**

 **Anyway, this is done and I'm tired, so I'm going to sign off. Don't forget to leave a review!**


End file.
